o brave new world! lions tip off the 2016 – 17 campaign

last time out we bade hail and farewell to the departing quartet of lion hoopsters (messrs lo, rosenberg, mullins and cohen) who had so wonderfully entertained us.  we wished them godspeed in the (less than) prestigious c.i.t. tournament where the boys proceeded to do  themselves and their fans proud, running the field and hoisting a champeenship banner at the tourney’s conclusion.  almost immediately, post-hoist, coach kyle smith grabbed a yellow cab for laguardia and his future life as the coach of the university of san francisco  dons.  the simultaneous departure of our stars and their guiding spirit left lion rooters understandably dizzy.

fortunately, a.d. peter pilling had smith’s replacement already sewn up and he seems an appropriate fit.  jim engles is a staten island boy who played prep hoops at st peter’s on richmond’s north shore and college ball at dickinson.  he worked as an assistant  at the  wagner and rider programs before joining coach joe jones on the sideline at columbia back in ’03 where he remained until 2008.  with the reconstruction of  columbia’s  program well underway and sufficiently prepared for greater responsibilities, he crossed the hudson to take charge of the terrible (putting it very mildly) n.j.i.t. program.  the highlanders were mired in a thirty plus game losing streak when engles showed up.  they would drop another nineteen straight before finally ending the drought against bryant.    that 1 – 30 season was followed by successively improving seasons culminating with a signature 72 -70 win over then 17th ranked michigan at ann arbor in december of 2014.  with the maraschino cherry of  two straight twenty plus win campaigns in hand, engles was ready to return to manhattan where, he says, he had been very happy during his prior residence.

we enthusiastically welcome engles, especially as he arrives bearing a particular gift – a tantalizingly attractive non-league schedule which includes four teams with top 100 rpi’s.  another way of characterizing its quality is to point out that it features six teams that won twenty plus games last season.  four of those crews went to the big dance and one played in the venerable n.i.t.  all of these teams find themselves in the same straits as the lions, looking to replace significant performers.  the two game weekend road trip opening the campaign epitomizes this situation.  on friday november 11, the lions travel east on long island’s north shore to battle the stony brook seawolves, a team that has whipped our heroes  three straight.  the long islanders will be debuting their own new head coach.  jeff boals  replaces the very successful steve pikiell who now runs the rutgers program.  boals has to figure out how to work around the loss of the terrific jameel warney who currently works for the dallas mavericks and point guard carson puriefoy who now runs the hardwood in the latvian professional league.  we doubt the seawolves have the firepower to compensate for those particular departures and we expect the lions begin the season 1- 0.  the trip east will be quickly followed by a southbound ride on amtrak to the nation’s fifth largest metropolis where  a rematch with phil martelli’s st. joe’s crew looms.  the hawks, 25 game winners last go round and big dancers, edged the lions at levien last autumn in a hard fought, highly entertaining battle.  we were very impressed by their co-leaders on the court, deandre bembry (now working for the atlanta hawks) and isaiah miles.  we also greatly enjoyed the enthusiastic  performance of the st. joe hawk himself whose wings flapped from tip off to final whistle and thoroughly out mascoted our own desultorily dancing rory the lion.  should the constitutionally partisan philadelphia zebras call a fair game, the lions should pay back martelli’s boys for a second win.  the lions continue traveling  to their third contest, a visit to quinnipiac  in connecticut before returning to manhattan at last for their thanksgiving eve home opener against army’s black knights.  following the holiday, we encourage fans to enjoy a turkey sandwich while taking in the saturday, november 26, matinee at levien against another patriot league five, the red raiders from colgate.  these holiday match ups will be played against very comparable squads and should give a fairly accurate idea of the team’s likely performances against ivy foes.  we go out on a limb to forecast that on the last tuesday in november it will be  a 5 – 0 lion squad hosting  joe mihalich’s hofstra crew.  like stony brook and st. joe’s, the pride must replace the two offensive leaders from a very successful (24-10) squad.  though juan’ya green and akeem tansley are gone, mihalich can still run the large and talented messr rokas gustys onto the floor.  last season’s caa first team center, the 6’9″ 260 lb lithuanian might well be the best big man the light blue faces all year.  he will be triggering mihalich’s up tempo attack and columbia has to limit the damage he does on the boards.  we greatly anticipate the contrasting styles of columbia’s motion offense and hofstra running game which will test the light blue’s rebounding prowess and commitment to getting back on defense.

better still, we hope, december opens with the lions traveling to newark’s prudential center for a big venue battle against the seton hall pirates.  the youngsters from south orange got to the ncaa tourney last year and return their entire crew except for isaiah whitehead who chose balling with the brooklyn nets over two more semesters of liberal arts.  even with whitehead’s absence, seton hall enjoys a lofty #12 rpi.  kevin willard, one of the finer branches of the rick pitino coaching tree, skippers the pirates and a select crew of allgamers will enjoy scrutinizing his tactical battle with coach engles.  jumping ahead, allgame anticipates another challenge when as the calendar rushes toward new year’s eve, the boys fly south for a december 28 match up against a big miami team, whose pre-season #9 rating makes them the toughest out on the lions’ non-league schedule.  jim larranaca, like three of the aforementioned coaches, took his boys to the big dance last march, and he too must make do without a crucial contributor as the incandescent angel rodriguez has moved on to the puerto rican professional circuit leaving  miami to discover a new floor leader.  the hurricanes  size alone, though, will present a rigorous test for our boys.  during the smith regime, the lions never backed down against bigger teams as in hard fought defeats at kentucky, michigan state and uconn or as in victories over villanova and ucal irvine (in the final of the c.i.t.).  we hope that this new crew evinces the same courage.  in any event, we trust that the quality of this non-league schedule will temper the lions well for the rigors of ivy play.

finally, who are the players who must work engles’s will.  messrs  lo,rosenberg and mullins took 55% of the light blue’s offense with them at graduation.   that’s  hard to replace but at least coach has some size and last season’s next five scorers returning.  we like those upper classmen as the starting five tonight when the refs toss it up out in stony brook.  juniors kyle castlin (6′ 4″) and nate hickman (6″ 4″) should work the backcourt while luke petrasek (a 6′ 10″ senior) will play down low besides his 6′ 8″ classmate, jeff coby and second year lucas meisner (also listed at 6′ 8″).   petrasek is a complete player who can score down on the blocks as well as  from the three point line.  a slick passing big man he can also put the ball on the floor causing additional headaches, and hopefully foul trouble,  for opponents.  if he hit the backboards with a bit more ferocity he would be an all ivy first teamer.   castlin had a terrific first year when coach smith played him a lot while trying to compensate for the absence of both rosenberg and mullins from the rotation.  last year k. c.  saw his minutes diminish as smith relied on his seniors and he struggled with his offense.  he is explosively athletically driving to the hoop and should he have worked on his jumper in the off season,  he might emerge as the squad’s first option on offense.  meisner played well as a first year and has a three point shot that makes him a legitimate stretch four.  coby is the most physical of the bigs.  he is an opportunistic scorer down low and should be the best rebounder on the team.  finally, nate hickman is a very long 6’4″ and should congest opponents’  passing lanes all season while challenging their bigs with his drives to the rim.  behind this battalion, jimmy e has some other sizable players who will be interchangeable parts in his motion offense.  shane eberle is a 6′ 11″ second year who sat out last year with injury.  patrick tape is a 6′ 10″ north carolinian first year and 6′ 8″  chris mccomber a junior canadian forward who loves the three point line should both contribute as will andrew panayatiou, a 6′ 7″ australian.  the immense conor voss (7′ 1″) should see some time at center if only to eat up defensive space.  john sica (a 6’7″  soph from upstate new york ) was coveted by the smith regime as a terrific shooter.  in the back court, we hope c.j.davis, a second year point guard, is ready to run the show for significant stretches as we love his handle and court vision.  we also hope he has rediscovered his jump shot which disappeared mid-season last year.  mike smith, a 5′ 10″ runner up for illinois high school player of the year, has joined the team.  he supposedly scores from everywhere and we hope provides energy and instant offense.  swingman rodney hunter was sidelined his first season, and is also said to be an offensive talent.  we look forward to discovering who will fulfill various roles – who will be the baseline banger that clears the boards, who will be the dead eye three point shooter to drain the absolutely necessary dagger, who will be the lock down defender who can stymie the enemy’s best player – and those discoveries start tonight.  jump ball on the season  at 7 pm out in stony brook.  nuff said.

peace out and d up,

paulie b